Driving mechanism for self-propelled vehicles.



No. 725,675. PATENTED APR, 21, 1903.

V P; J. COLLINS. DRIVING MECHANISM FOR, QELF PROPELLED- VEHICLES;

A PPLIOATION FILED AUG. 29, 1902.

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P. J. COLLINS.

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR SELF PROPELLED VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 29, 1902.

H0 MQDEL. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2,.

No. 725.675. PATENTED APR, 21, 1903. P. J. COLLINS. DRIVING MECHANISMFOR SELF PROPELLED VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 29, 1902;

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PATENT OFFICE.

PATRICK J. COLLINS, OF SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO RICH- ARD J.BOURKE, TRUSTEE, OF SORANTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR SELF-PROPELLED VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 725,675, dated April21, 1903. Application filed August 29,1902. Serial No. 121,515. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PATRICK J. COLLINS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Scranton, in the county of Lackawanna and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inDriving Mechanism for Self-Propelled Vehicles, of which the following isa specification.

This invention relates to improvements in.

[O self-propelled vehicles of the kind in which a constantly-operatedengine and dynamo, carried by the vehicle, are employed to supply powerto one or more electric motors, the armatures of which are geared to thedriving-wheels of the vehicle. The advantage of such a combination ofdevices by which mechanical energy is'converted into electrical energyand again into mechanical energy is that engines, such asexplosive-engines,which have a high efficiency, but which cannot bereadily varied in speed or direction of motion, may be availed of forsupplying power only, while the movement of the vehicle may be veryreadily controlled by a controlling- 2 5 switch connected and arrangedto effect variations in speed and direction of rotation of themotor-armatures. These advantages,however, are very largely offset bythe additional weight added to the vehicle when electric machines of theordinary construction are interposed between the engine and'thedrivingwheels and by the loss in efficiency occasioned by the doubleconversion of power. To overcome these disadvantages, I have provided adynamo-electric machine on which a generator-armatureand apairofmotor-armatures are arranged within a field-casing common to all of saidarmatures, every part of this casing forming a part of the magneticcircuit of the machine. With this construction the weight of thecombined machine is brought very low without sacrificing efficiency. Thegeneratorarrnature,which occupies the center of the casing and suppliescurrent for both motor-armatures, isdirectlyconnected to aconstant-speed explosive-engine, while the motor-armatures, which arearranged on either side of the generator-armature and paralleltherewith, are independently connected to the driving-wheels.

The parts of the combined apparatus are symmetrically arranged, and whenplaced upon the vehicle-frame in operative position the weight is evenlydistributed between the opposite sides of the frame.

In the accompanying drawings, Figurel is a plan view of the rear portionof a motor-vehicle frame, showing my improvements applied thereto. Fig.2 is a rear elevation of the same, the frame being partly broken away;and Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6 are side views of the field-frames of variousforms of my improved dynamo-electric machine.

Referring to Fig. 3 of the drawings, a indicates the field-frame of myimproved machine, which, asshown in said figure, consists of a hollowcasing comprising a central octagonal portion 1 and two quadrilateralportions 2 and 3, respectively, arranged on opposite sides of thecentral portion. The interior of the frame is divided into a central 7ocompartment 4 and two side compartments 5 by removable partitions 6,which partitions form sides for the adjoining compartments. Thesepartitions, like the casing Ct, are made of iron or soft steel and formparts of the magnetic circuit for the field of the generator' andmotors. Each partition has a polepiece 7 thereon projecting into thecentral or generator compartment 4 and a pole-piece 8 upon its oppositeside projecting into the adjacent motor-compartment 5. Opposingpolepieces 9 are arranged at the opposite ends of the compartments 5,and pole-pieces 10 are arranged within the compartments at between thepole-pieces 7. The pole-pieces 7 and 8 are preferably formed integralwith the removable partitions 6, and the remaining polepieces are formedintegral with the casing a. A multipolar field is thus formed in thecentral compartment, within which an armature may operate at acomparatively low speed, and bipolar fields are formed in thecompartments 5, within which smaller armatures may operate independentlyat higher speeds. The paths of the magnetic flux are indicated by 5arrows in Fig. 3, and the armatures and fieldcoils are indicated bydotted lines in Figs. 3, 4, and 5.

In Fig. 4 the arrangement is the same as in Fig. 3, except that thecores of the field-poles mo 9 in Fig. 3 are omitted and consequentpolepieces 9 are formed on the frame opposite the pole-pieces 8. Thetotal length of the casing is thus shortened, bringing themotorarmatures closer together.

In Fig. 5 the motor-armatures are brought still nearer to one another byomitting the cores of the field-poles 8 in Fig. 3 and providingconsequent poles 8 upon the partitions 6, which are energized by thecoils on the cores of the field-poles 9. The total length of the casingin Fig. 5 is substantially the same as that of the casing in Fig. 4:. InFig. 5 the central portion 1 of the field-casing is circular, and sixpoles 7, 10, and 1O are shown within this part of the casing.

In Fig. 6 I have shown a field-frame having six sides with partitions6", each having a generator field-pole 10 and a motor field-pole 8. Inthis instance the field-coils of the machine are to be wound on thecores 6, which form parts of the partitions, and upon cores 9", havingpoles 9 opposite the poles 8 on the partitions. This machine is bipolarthroughout, and the generator-poles and adjacent motor-poles have coresand windings in common.

In Figs. 1 and 2, which show the parts for supplying motive powerapplied to a vehicle, 1) indicates the vehicle-frame, which may be ofany suitable construction, and the dynamoelectric-machine casing a, issupported transversely of the vehicle-frame by flanges 11 upon saidcasing, which rest upon longitudinallyextending supports 12. Themotor-armatures 13 and 14 are independently geared, as shown, by beveledgearing 15 and 16 to the shafts of the driving-Wheels 17 and 18,respectively. The generator-armature 19 is connected bya coupling 20 tothe shaft 21 of an explosiveengine 22, which is supported by thetransverse beams 23 and 24 centrally of the vehicle-frame. It will beseen by an inspection of Fig. 2 that this arrangement permits thedriving-aXles-to be arranged at a suitable angle for giving the requiredset to the vehiclewheels.

' In operation the engine 22 runs constantly, driving thegenerator-armature 19, and the current from said armature is led to acontroller and from thence direct to the motor fields and armatures insuch a way as to control the speeds of said armatures. Any desirablearrangement of controller and controlling-circuits may be employed, andas the controller and circuits form no part of the present invention itis not necessary to illustrate or describe them. The generator portionof the machine being multipolar, the speed of the generator-armature mayeasily be low enough for direct connection to an engine of moderatespeed without excessive weight. The motor-armatures revolve in bipolarfields and are designed for higherspeeds. The motor-armatures may bevaried in speed relatively to one another for the purpose of steering,and the separate connection of the motor-armatures to the axles willpermit the Wheels to turn at difterent speeds when the steering isaccomplished in the usual Way without the use of difierential gearing.As the casing or frame of the electric machine contains no more ironthan is essential for the magnetic circuits,themachineisverylight onaccount of that fact, and the combined machines are very much lighterthan if made separately. Furthermore, separate machines require separatesupports, which add weight to the vehicle,whereas in the present machineit is only necessary to provide supports for the flanges 11 at the endsof the frame.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent,

1. In an automatically-propelled vehicle, the combination with asuitabledriving power of a dynamo-electric machine comprising a hollowfield-frame having a central compartment and two side compartments,ageneratorarmature in the central compartmentand connected to saiddriving power, and armatnres in the side compartments geared to thedriving-wheels of the vehicle.

2. In an automatically-propelled vehicle having independentdriving-wheels, the combination with a dynamo-electric machinecomprising a central generator and a motor on each side of thegenerator, said generator and motors having a common field-frame, ofasuitable driving power connected to the generator-armature, and gearsconnecting the armatures of the motors to the drivingwheels.

3.. A dynamo-electric machine for self-propelled vehicles,comprising ahollow field having three compartments separated by partitions whichform parts of the magnetic circuits, said compartments havingpole-pieces therein, and an armature within each compartment.

4. A dynamo-electric machine for self-propelled vehicles comprising ahollow fieldframe divided into a central compartment and two sidecompartments by partitions which form parts of the magnetic circuits,the central compartment having more than two pole-pieces therein and theside compartments each having two pole-pieces only, and an armaturewithin each compartment.

5. A dynamo-electric machine for self-propelled vehicles comprising ahollow fieldframe having three compartments, partitions between saidcompartments forming parts of the magnetic circuit, each partitionhaving pole-pieces on its opposite sides projecting into the adjoiningcompartments and an armature within each compartment.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE W. JONES, M. F. SANDO.

